Pakistan prepares to detain Imran Khan's provincial leaders as government declares emergency to crush march on Islamabad

From the Newshound archive · first published 11 October 2026 · last updated 12 October 2026.

Pakistan's government has arrested the chief minister and party president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hours after suspending the province's PTI-led government and declaring a state of emergency — moves Khan's party is calling 'a coup disguised as emergency'. President Asif Ali Zardari invoked two constitutional articles citing the provincial government's alleged failure to combat Islamist militancy on the Afghan border. Under the arrangement, a federal governor is set to assume control supported by an advisory council, with the measures due to remain in place for six months.

PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari warned the emergency risked 'inciting more bloodshed and instability' and was designed to stop a march on Islamabad demanding Khan's release.

Khan has been jailed for more than three years; hundreds of his supporters and three of his sisters were detained before the march even began, in what PTI called one of the harshest crackdowns in years.

PTI has rejected the militancy allegations outright, saying Islamabad deliberately starved the province of funding and equipment to fight terror, then used the resulting chaos as a pretext to seize control.